To renew a secret security clearance, you submit an updated Standard Form 86 through the eApp portal every five years while continuous vetting monitors your record in between. Your facility security officer or security manager initiates the case when it comes due, and you keep working in your cleared position while the updated investigation runs. The old ten-year periodic reinvestigation is gone.
What Renewal Looks Like Under Continuous Vetting
Every Department of Defense clearance holder is now enrolled in continuous vetting under the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative. Automated systems pull from criminal, terrorism, financial, and public records databases and flag concerns to your agency in near-real time.1Performance.gov. Trusted Workforce 2.0 Transition Report Standalone periodic reinvestigations are being phased out.
What remains is the five-year SF-86 refresh. You submit a new questionnaire with signed release pages every five years to keep the vetting system current, and this requirement has replaced the ten-year reinvestigation.2United States Marine Corps. Requirement for Submission of a New SF86 With Signed Release Pages Every Five Years If your last investigation was completed under the legacy rules, your security office will tell you when to act.
One clarification that matters if the deadline sneaks up on you: clearances themselves do not expire. What expires is the currency of your background investigation. If your renewal is due and you are still in a cleared position, your eligibility stays active while DCSA processes the updated case.3Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. FAQs – Facility Security Officers You do not lose access simply because paperwork is pending.
Who Starts It and What It Costs You
You cannot renew a clearance on your own. You need a sponsoring employer with a legitimate need for you to access classified information, and your facility security officer or security manager initiates the periodic update when it comes due.4Department of the Army. Security Clearances Frequently Asked Questions Federal policy prohibits retaining access once you lose your affiliation through separation or retirement, whether you are military, civilian, or contractor.
Out-of-pocket cost to you: nothing. Your sponsoring agency pays for the investigation through DCSA’s billing process.5Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Billing Rates and Resources
Filling Out the SF-86 in eApp
The SF-86, “Questionnaire for National Security Positions,” drives the whole renewal. You complete it electronically through eApp, which has fully replaced the older e-QIP system.6Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e-QIP) Your security office provides login credentials and initiates your case.
Gather your information before you start. Most sections cover ten years and the form will not let you estimate.7U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guide for the Standard Form (SF) 86 – Guide for Applicants Have the following ready:
- Every address where you lived over the past ten years, with dates and a verifier for each residence.
- All jobs, unemployment periods, and self-employment going back ten years, including supervisor names and contact information.
- Schools attended, degrees earned, and dates.
- Any close or continuing relationship with a foreign national within the past seven years where you exchanged personal information and expect ongoing contact. Casual small talk at a social event or routine commercial transactions do not count.8Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. SEAD 3 Reporting Exercise
- Bankruptcies filed in the past seven years, any debt more than 120 days delinquent, tax filing failures, and gambling losses. There is no minimum dollar amount; the trigger is being over 120 days late on any debt.9Office of Personnel Management. SF86 Questionnaire for National Security Positions
- Any illegal drug use or drug-related activity, and any criminal charges or convictions.
- Certain mental health treatment history. Routine counseling is not automatically disqualifying.
Accuracy matters more than perfection. Investigators expect minor memory lapses on exact dates. Deliberate omissions or misrepresentations, however, are treated as a separate security concern under the personal conduct guideline. When you finish, you electronically certify that everything is true and complete, then submit. Save the confirmation page.
What to Report Between Renewals
The SF-86 is not the only time you disclose changes. Security Executive Agent Directive 3 requires you to report certain events to your security officer on an ongoing basis, typically within five business days.10Director of National Intelligence. Security Executive Agent Directive 3 – Reporting Requirements for Personnel with Access to Classified Information or Who Hold a Sensitive Position Common triggers include:
- All unofficial foreign travel. Most agencies require pre-approval and an itinerary. Unplanned day trips to Canada or Mexico must be reported within five business days of your return. Emergency travel requires at least a verbal notification to your supervisor before departure.
- Any arrest, regardless of outcome or severity.
- Filing bankruptcy or becoming more than 120 days delinquent on any debt.
- Security-relevant behavior you observe in other cleared individuals, such as unexplained wealth or criminal conduct.
Failing to report is itself a security concern. Continuous vetting will surface many of these events through automated database checks anyway, so your agency may already know before you tell them. Reporting proactively shows the reliability adjudicators are looking for.
What Happens After You Submit
Once your SF-86 is in, DCSA runs the investigation. A secret-level renewal is a Tier 3 investigation, which involves searches at law enforcement agencies, courts, employers, educational institutions, and creditors.11Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Investigations and Clearance Process Investigators may interview references, neighbors, and former coworkers, and they may contact you to clarify anything on the form. Polygraphs are not standard at the secret level; those come into play for certain sensitive compartmented information access or specific agency requirements.
As of early 2025, DCSA reported average timelines for Tier 3 cases of roughly 18 days to initiate, 73 days for the investigation, and 47 days for adjudication. The FBI has historically aimed to complete secret clearance processing within 45 to 60 days for its own cases.12Federal Bureau of Investigation. Security Clearances for Law Enforcement Your case will vary with its complexity, how many addresses and contacts must be tracked down, and current caseloads.
Adjudicators then review the completed investigation against 13 national security guidelines established by Security Executive Agent Directive 4: allegiance to the United States, foreign influence, foreign preference, sexual behavior, personal conduct, financial considerations, alcohol consumption, drug involvement, psychological conditions, criminal conduct, handling of protected information, outside activities, and use of information technology.13U.S. Department of Energy. Security Executive Agent Directive 4
No single issue is automatically disqualifying. Adjudicators use a “whole person” concept, weighing the seriousness of a concern against the circumstances, how long ago it happened, and what you have done about it. Financial problems are the most common red flag, and Guideline F specifically recognizes mitigating factors: trouble caused by circumstances beyond your control such as job loss, medical emergencies, or divorce; whether you have sought financial counseling; and whether you have made a good-faith effort to repay creditors or resolve debts.14eCFR. 32 CFR 147.8 – Guideline F – Financial Considerations An applicant with $30,000 in medical debt on a payment plan is in far better shape than someone with $5,000 in unexplained collections they never disclosed.
If Your Renewal Is Denied
You have substantial due process protections under Executive Order 12968 if adjudicators determine you no longer meet eligibility standards. You must receive a written explanation, as detailed as national security allows, in the form of a Statement of Reasons listing the specific concerns.15GovInfo. Executive Order 12968 – Access to Classified Information From there:
- You can request the documents and investigative reports the decision relied on, which must be provided within 30 days.
- You may hire an attorney or other representative at your own expense.
- For DoD personnel, you have 20 days from receipt of the Statement of Reasons to submit a written answer admitting or denying each allegation.
- You have the right to appear before an adjudicative authority and present documents and information.
- After an initial review, you can appeal in writing to a high-level panel of at least three members, two of whom must come from outside the security field. The panel’s written decision is final at the agency level.
For DoD cases, the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals handles these proceedings. If you appeal an administrative judge’s decision, your notice of appeal must reach the Appeal Board within 15 calendar days, and your appeal brief is due within 45 calendar days of the judge’s decision.16DOHA. A Short Description of the DOHA ISCR Appeal Process Missing these deadlines effectively waives your appeal rights.
If You Leave a Cleared Job Before Renewing
If you leave a cleared position through a job change, retirement, or separation, your clearance does not vanish. It goes inactive. You lose access to classified information, and a clock starts. Generally, if you return to a position requiring a clearance within 24 months and no new derogatory information has surfaced, your new employer can reactivate your eligibility without a full new investigation. Past 24 months, expect to go through the process from scratch.
Federal policy also requires reciprocity between agencies. If you move to another federal agency, or from government to a cleared contractor role, the receiving organization must accept your existing clearance as long as the investigation covers the scope required for the new position and no new adverse information exists. The main exceptions are interim clearances, clearances granted with a waiver, and investigations that no longer fall within the required timeline.
Staying engaged with the process is what keeps a clearance healthy. Report what you are supposed to report, submit your SF-86 update when your security office asks, and address financial or legal issues directly rather than hoping no one notices. Continuous vetting is designed to catch problems early, not to punish people for having normal life complications.